Archive for the ‘Jeep CJ-6A Tuxedo Park Mark IV’ tag

On the central New Jersey coastline, not far from Asbury Park, there’s an absolute, hands-down trove for people who are into old Jeeps. All kinds of old Jeeps, dating from the immediate post-war years all the way into the 1980s. Lording over his wonderfully cluttered rabbit warren of more than 10,000 Jeep parts, virtually all of them OEM or NOS, is Morris Ratner, who proudly calls himself The Jeepster Man.
Mr. Ratner does indeed stock parts for Jeepsters, built at various times by Willys-Overland, Kaiser and American Motors, in a number of guises. The earliest were produced between 1948 and 1951, then reappeared in 1967 as the Jeepster convertible, part of a line that also included the more utilitarian Commando, and lasted through 1971. The Commando, sans Jeepster, continued through 1973, after which it morphed into the first of the Wagoneer-based Cherokees. So as we can see, The Jeepster Man is about more than just Jeepsters.
Here’s more evidence: He also stocks components for relative rarities such as the DJ-3A Dispatcher and Surrey, built from 1955 to 1964; the CJ-5A and CJ-6A Tuxedo Park Mark IV (1964-1967), the full line of Forward Control trucks and all kinds of FSJ pieces (that’s Full Size Jeeps, for the uninitiated), ranging from the first half-ton Willys pickup of 1950 all the way to the last of the Grand Wagoneers. He also sells a selection of electrical and steering pieces for later-model AMC passenger cars.
The Jeepster Man offers a parts catalog, and he’s open six days a week at 238 Ramtown-Greenville Road in Howell Township, New Jersey, off U.S. Route 9. Call him at 732-458-3966, check in online at www.thejeepsterman.comand tell him Hemmings sent you.

(This post originally appeared in the February 2, 2006, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)